The Brookmiller, Christine Singh [free novel 24 TXT] 📗

As time went by, the United Kingdom saw the numbers of Corona Infektions rising. 

The Prime Minister made fun of the virus and those who warned about it and continued to shake hands with everybody. And while some people startet wearing mouth covers in public, Kulwant and Lakhbir were still working normal shifts, while most shops, restaurants and hotels had to keep their doors shut. Life was reduced to the bare essentials.

You were allowed to go to the shop to get food, go for a walk; but not in groups, go to work, or help the elderly. That was it. Schools were closed and the kids stayed at home doing nothing and getting bored to death. They tried home-schooling, but did it work?

The next thing they saw on the news was, that the Prime minister had caught the Corona Virus. It was said, that he had mild symptoms and was working in quarantaine from his office. 

But only a few days later the Prime Minister was admitted into hospital and things looked pretty bad. That´s when Kulwant and Lakhbir got really scared and refused to work any longer.

Their boss offered them mouth covers and hand sanitizers and told them, that they were safe, if they kept the social distancing rules. They agreed to continue their work shifts, but every evening, when they returned home, their wives had to take their temperature. They knew that over 100°F meant fever. 

Meanwhile Kulwan´ts kids, the 16-year old Lovie Singh and his 14-year old sister Jaggy Kaur were rebelling, because they couldn´t meet up with their friends, while his wife was scared of bringing the Corona Virus home as she worked in a nearby nursing home. The family spent their time cooking delicious meals, watching Indian Movies, cleaning the house and fighting with each other. The Gurdwaras (Sikh Temples) had to close also and there were no distractions whatsoever.

One day, as Jaggy logged into her Facebook account, she noticed a fitness video of the "Skipping Sikh" . Rajinder Singh, a 73-year old with turban and a long white beard, was skipping in his garden. Jaggy was impressed. Fancy this old man jumping through a rope; not once, not twice, but many times. Jaggy wasn´t sure if she could keep up with the old man.. She went searching for a skipping rope, but there was none in the house. - Right! - Her bed-sheet would do as a skipping rope. She stripped the bed and wrangled the sheet into a rope, skipped a few times, missed her step and fell on the floor with a great bang. 

The whole family heard the noise, rushed upstairs to see what was going on in Jaggy´s room, saw her sitting on the floor, rubbing her ankle and laughed at her misfortune with the bed-sheet.

Soon after that the family had ordered skipping ropes, weightlifting-sets and other sports gear online  to follow up with Rajinder Singh´s fitness videos and to keep themselves fit during the  lockdown. 

Now Lakhbir Singh got engaged to a beautiful girl called Harminder Kaur and their plan to get married soon after had to be postponed. This didn´t suit Harminder at all, because she was two months pregnant and the whole Community would be gossiping behind her back, if she waited with the wedding much longer. All she asked for was a small reception at the registry´s office. The big wedding with hundreds of guests at the Gurdwara to be held later in the year. 

After many pleas the registration officer agreed to marry the couple, allowing only two witnesses and no guests. By that time Harminder was in her third month of pregnancy and had trouble covering her baby-belly. She had a few months left though to think up a story to explain her "seven-months-pregnancy" baby wonder to the strict Sikh Community.

Publication Date: 05-17-2020

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